I heartily applaud the notion of recycling in this world where we waste so much stuff. So it is that we find ourselves in the midst of "hard rubbish collection" atBlackwood.This requires householders to dump their hard rubbish (stuff that can't be collected through the bin system) on the footpath and some time during the week some well meaning chaps come and pick it up.
This may cause amusement to overseas visitors who find it extraordinary that Australians just seem to dump overused couches, dead fridges, and now-defunct pieces of wood, metal and plastic in ever increasing piles along the side of the road. But it works well enough, and is an unsightly mess for only a few days.
A couple of interesting things to note. The stuff is well picked over by scavengers, good luck to them I say. They are the true recyclers, those who cull the rubbish and try to make a buck out of it.
Because the council operation is not really recycling at all. However we might like to appease our consciences this morning I noted that the collectors simply put everything in a compactor. A quite good wooden bedhead, a washign machine which could have been salvaged for parts. Umpteen dozen old fashioned computer monitors and the cheap little printers which have served us so well.
All crushed in together, into a thousand pieces. Presumably they will become amorphous land fill. The least effective mode of recycling.
I passed a compost bin being thrown out this morning, I must go back and see if it is still there. I can probably use it!!!!
